Theodore o



(No Model?) T. 0. EARLE.

7 'PENHOLDER; No. 469,684. Patented Mar.t1, 1892.

WITNESSES: INVENTOH 07 0. (5% $61M W 4?; 50W) ATTORNEYS NrTEn STATES PATENT FFICE.

THEODORE O. EARIJE, OF NEWV YORK, N. Y.

PENHOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 469,684, dated March 1, 1892.

Application filed April 4, 1891- Serial No. 387,586. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THEODORE O. EARLE, of New York city, in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Penholders, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to an improvementin pen-holders, and has for its object to provide a pen-holding attachment for holders which will effectually clamp a pen and hold it in proper position to be used and which may also be expeditiously and conveniently manipulated to release a pen, thus obviating the necessity of removing the pen by hand and thus soiling the fingers.

A further object of the invention is to provide a pen-holding attachment which will antomatically adapt itself to receive and embrace pens of different thicknesses.

The invention consists in the novelconstruction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings,forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a partial side elevation and vertical section of a penholder having my improvement applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the attachment removed from the holder. Fig. 3 is a transverse seciion taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is aperspective view of a modification of the device.

In carrying out the invention a cylinder 10, of gutta-percha, metal, or of any approved material, is employed, which may be sufficiently long to constitute in itself a penh older, or it may be secured to a penholder, as illustrated in Fig. 1. In one side of the cylinder an opening 11 is produced, and within the cylinder the pen-holding'attachment A is located. The attachment consists of an arm 12, which may be termed a lever, and the outer end of the arm or lever 12 is semicircular in cross-section and is preferably wider than the remaining portion, as illustrated at 13 in Figs. 1 and 2. Adjacent to the wide concaved section 13 the arm or lever is bent to form an upwardly-extending spur 14, the said spur being preferably triangular in crosssection. From the spur the arm or lever is curved downward and made to terminate in a straight section 15, upon which section a button 16 is secured, the said button being adapted to normally extend outward through the opening 11 in the holder flush with the outer face thereof. 'Upon the under face of the outer section 13 of the arm or lever one end 'of a spring 17 is bolted or otherwise secured, the said spring being preferably made U-shaped. The section 13 is convexed upon its upper face and concaved upon its lower face. In locating the attachment in the cy inder 10 the convexed face of the section 13 engages with the upper inner face of the cylinder near the lower end thereof, and the said section 13 is preferably made to extend some little distancebeyond the lower end of the cylinder, as is illustrated in Fig. 1. The spur 14 is seated in an indentationor socket 18, produced in the upper wall of the cylinder, as is likewise shown in Fig. 1, and the button 16 extends through the opening 11 of the cylinder, which openingis located in its underside. It will be observed that the arm or lever 12 has no fixed pivot, and the spur which acts as a fulcrum is held in place by the spring 17, which bears against the lower face of the cylinder. The spring 17 also serves to force the section 13 upward sufiiciently to clamp the shank of a pen introduced between the outer face of the said section and the inner contiguous face of. the cylinder.

- The attachment will automatically adjust itself to receive the shanks of pens, although the pen-shanks may differ in thickness and will hold any pen firmly in position within the cylinder. This is due to the fact thata fixed pivot is not employed, butwhat may be termed a yielding fulcrum is employed instead, which allows the section 13 to come along its entire length, and thus engage evenly with the entire surface of the pen located over the section. When it is desired to remove the pen from the holder, the button is pressed inward and the section 13 is thereby carried downward and a space is created between it and the holder sufficient to loosen the pen and permit it to drop. The button 16' does not in the least interfere with the operation of the penholder, as it is flush with the outer face of the penholder when a pen is in position therein. The lower end of the cylinder 10 is partially closed by an end partition 10, which partition is preferably made to terminate a slight distance below the outer 1nember of the lever 12 when said member is in its normal position. A suificient space, 110wever, is left between the upper wall of the cylinder and the opposed end of the partition 10 to permit the outer member of the lever to be depressed sulficiently to free the en. The outer extremity of the outer mem er of the lever 12 is also preferably curved downward in order to facilitate the entrance of the pen between the member-and the inner face of the cylinder.

IV hen thelever is constructed as illustrated in Fig. 1, a lug 19 is produced in the upper wall of the cylinder in front of the spur and over the cavityin the lever occasioned by the formation of the spur. The lug or stop 19 is adapted to preventthe pen from being pressed within the cylinder far enough to interfere with the fulcru m of the lever and thereby prevent the proper action of the same.

In Fig. 4 I have illustrated a slight modification in the form of the lever, in which it will be observed that the upper face of the outer member is provided with serrations 20, or it may be otherwise roughened, and the object of roughening the surface is to enable the lever to obtain afirm hold upon the pen, and a cavity 21 is produced in the upper face of the outer member of the lever below the spur 14, the rear wall of which cavity serves as a stop to limit theinward movement of the pen in the holder. The forward wall of the cavity 21 is beveled or inclined, and the object of this inclination, the counterpart of which in the lever shown in Fig.1 is the concaved surface in front of the spur, is to provide a means whereby when the outer member of the lever is depressed to free the pen the inner end of the pen will be in no manner bound.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A penholder consisting of a cylinder provided with an opening in one side face and a lever having a movable fulcrum in the cylinder, the said lever having one end extended forward to engage a pen and provided at its other end with a button adapted to extend out through an opening in the cylinder essentially flush with the outer face of the latter, as and for the purpose specified.

2. In a penholder, the combination, with a cylinder, of a spring-controlled lever having a movable fulcrum in the cylinder, the outer member of which lever is convexed upon its upper face and normally engages with the inner face of the holder, a stop located adjacent to the fulcrum of the lever, and a button secured to the inner member of the lever and adapted to extend outward through an opena spring located beneath the outer member of the lover, a button secured to the inner member of the lever and extending outward through an opening in the cylinder practicallv flush with the outer face of the cylinder, and a stop located near the fulcrum of the lever andadapted to limit the inward movement of an insertedpen, as and for the purpose specified.

4. A penholder consisting of a cylinder provided with an opening in one face, a lever having a movable fulcrum in the cylinder, said lever having one end extended forward to engage a pen and provided at its other end with a button adapted to extend through an opening in the cylinder and be flush with the outer face thereof, and a spring secured to the opposite end of the lever and having a bearing against the cylinder, as and for the purpose specified.

5. In a penholder, the combination, with a cylinder provided with an opening at one side and an interior socket, of a lever having its ends carried horizontally in opposite directions to an engagement with opposite sides of the cylinder and provided with a spur entering the socket in the cylinder, a spring engaging with the outer end of the lever and also bearing against the inner wall of the cylinder, and a button secured to the inner endof the lever and adapted to normally extend through the opening 11 flush with the outer face of the cylinder, as and for the purpose specified. I

THEODORE O. EARLE.

Witnesses:

J. FRED. ACKER, O. SEDGWICK. 

